By Faisal Aziz

ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Reuters) - Pakistani relief workers are setting up camps to provide shelter to thousands of people forced from their homes in severe flooding across the south of the country, a relief official said on Friday.

More than 2.2 million people have been affected in 6,400 villages of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces as a result of early rainy-season storms and flooding, said Farooq Ahmad Khan, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.

The harsh weather, which has also affected Afghanistan and India, has killed 280 people in the two provinces, while 186 are missing, Khan told reporters.

Last month, about 230 people were killed in the southern city of Karachi in three days of heavy rain and ferocious wind.

"Our top priority is the provision of shelter to the affected," Khan said.

"We are setting up hundreds of camps. Those who have no roof over their heads should at least have canvas," he said.

Huge swathes of the south have been inundated, initially by a cyclone that dumped torrential rain across the region, then by swollen rivers flowing down from the north.

Food and clean water, medicines, as well as measures to avert outbreak of epidemics were other priorities, Khan said.

The military is helping organise relief works, and C-130 cargo aircraft and helicopters have carried out hundreds of sorties, dropping hundreds of tonnes of food and medicines.

Khan said the situation was improving with rivers flowing at normal levels and no extreme weather expected.

"Our main reservoirs, the Tarbela and Mangla dams, are also well below their maximum capacity, and hence can store more water," he said.

The damage assessment was likely to take another six weeks. Foreign assistance worth $6.2 million has already been pledged for relief work.

The seasonal rain is vital for the region's agriculture and economy. It also brings welcome relief after many hot, dry months but every year the rains kill hundreds of people.

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